We must provide undocumented immigrants with a just pathway to legitimacy and citizenship.
For DACA recipients, congress must immediately pass a clean Dream Act.
Other undocumented residents should have a 3-part approach:
1. Provide the 11 million undocumented immigrants path to legal permanent residency and citizenship similar to DACA.
2. Use technology to enable a new and streamlined immigration policy.
3. Leverage technology to improve enforcement. We don't need a physical wall on the southern border. We must also crack down on employers who exploit undocumented labor.

Access to healthcare is seen in our society as a right, not a privilege. I support universal healthcare. We must:
1. Immediately stabilize the ACA by funding cost-sharing subsidies, enrollment outreach and support services, and by restoring the full length open enrollment period
2. Allow Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs
3. Add a public option to the available insurance options
4. Progressively roll back the 1943 IRS decision exempting employee withholdings paid towards health insurance from payroll taxes
5. Progressively lower the age of eligibility for Medicare

Assault weapons are not designed for target shooting or hunting. They are designed to kill the largest number of people in the shortest period of time possible.
Children in classrooms do not deserve to be killed. People at concerts do not deserve to be killed.
We must:
1. Ban all bump stocks or other modifications that convert weapons to fully automatic
2. Strengthen background checks on ALL gun purchases.
3. Require legitimate safety courses for all gun purchases and require a minimum of 7 days between purchase and possession.
These measures will help keep guns out of the wrong hands.

• We must implement criminal justice reform, specifically eliminating for-profit prisons.
• We must invest in proactive community policing.
• We must increase the minimum wage to a living wage standard.
• We must Amend or replace the Equal Pay Act with an enforceable law that will guarantee pay equity for women
• We must provide access to quality affordable childcare so that families do not have to choose to have a family member leave the work force – a choice that disproportionately impacts women
• We must make college affordable and accessible to all to encourage social mobility

Yes. The cost of college has increased at a far greater rate than average household incomes. States have cut support of public institutions resulting in significant increases in tuition and fees. As a result, Americans currently bear between $1.4 and $1.5 trillion in student loans.
It is critically important to make college more affordable and available to those who choose to attend. Making college affordable for those in households in the lowest 25% income increases economic and social mobility and decreases income inequality

Congress should act to amend the Clean Air Act and explicitly authorize the EPA to regulate carbon emissions. The EPA should restore the Clean Power Plan.
The United States should rejoin and ratify the Paris Climate Agreement to reassert our leadership in this space.
Additionally, we should retool the National Flood Insurance Program entirely to anticipate sea level rise, discourage building and/or rebuilding in flood-prone areas, and charge premiums that accurately reflect the risk associated with properties in vulnerable areas.

Money must be put in the hands of people who NEED to buy things, but can’t. We should have a $15/hour minimum wage.
I consider the slowing of social mobility and the vast rise in income inequality to be the most damaging issue we face in the United States today.
We should revisit the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and rework it to craft a revenue-neutral bill that will preserve some of the provisions for corporate tax cuts, put money in the hands of consumers who are currently constrained in their purchasing, and reduce or eliminate immediate tax cuts for the upper 10%.

BackgroundI have an extensive background in public health, from direct field work to program supervisor to epidemiologist.

EducationBA History - Angelo State University
BA Psychology - Angelo State University
MPA - Texas State University
PhD - University of Texas (in progress)

Pass the DREAM Act. DREAMers are our neighbors and colleagues. We are stronger with them here.
Develop a roadmap to citizenship. Immigrants are part of our community and contribute to our economy. It is time we have a rational discussion about a roadmap to citizenship.
Modernize the immigration application process. We need an immigration process that gives an answer in months – not decades.
Enforce employment laws. We cannot overhaul our immigration system as long as businesses are able to get about with labor exploitation, wage theft, and unfit working conditions.

First, we will create a public option available to all citizens. This will keep insurance companies from price gouging customers.
Next, you – not your employer – will pick your insurance company. While employers will continue to pay health benefits, you will pick your insurance company. This will drive down prices as insurance companies compete for your business in a transparent market.
Medicare will negotiate prescription drug prices. Pharmaceutical companies will no longer be able to price gouge our seniors and tax payers.

We will lift the ban on researching gun violence. We will establish a domestic violence prevention task force that provides every city, county, and state law enforcement agency with the resources needed to stop intimate partner violence. And we will close the gun show loophole.

We must promote health and wellness for all women. Access to contraception, annual well-woman exams, and preventative screenings must be protected. Simply put, we cannot allow employers, insurance companies, or politicians to come between a woman and her doctor. I will oppose any legislation that is counter to these principles.
Further, we must decriminalize marijuana. A disproportionate number of minorities, particularly males, are currently incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses. This has disastrous impacts on communities, particularly communities of color.

Yes, we must take an active role in reducing student debt. Student debt is crippling the economic growth of young entrepreneurs, recent graduates, and small businesses. Instead of putting money into our local economy and supporting small business, recent graduates are living paycheck to paycheck -- paying $100s or $1,000s a month in student debt.
The economic future of our nation – of our middle class – depends on reducing student debt.

Climate change is real. I will fight to keep us on track to reduce carbon emissions nationwide – and globally. Responding to climate change cannot be done purely by focusing on the United States. We must use our economic and political strength to reduce carbon emissions in high pollution nations such as China and India.
We can reduce carbon emissions worldwide by including requirements for environmental protections in all future trade deals.

We must stand up for our democracy. This means expanding the Voting Rights Act, ending gerrymandering, establishing term limits, and getting dark money out of politics. I have a platform on all of these topics and I refuse to take PAC money. We cannot expect true change in our government for as long as corporate interests can buy political influence.

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